Anastasia Krupnik

Gr. 4-6. The first in a series of subtly humorous stories about a spirited girl and her warm, understanding family.

Disappointing after A Summer to Die (1977), this episodic story takes Anastasia, ten, from her parents' unwelcome announcement that they're expecting a second child to her acceptance of the baby brother when he's born. A changing list of ""Things I Love"" and ""Things I Hate"" helps tie together Anastasia's experiences: she writes a poem which is not appreciated by her stereotypically unenlightened teacher; she visits her professor-father's college English class where she's the only one to relate to the Wordsworth poem under discussion (his students are stereotypically spacey); she decides to turn Catholic so she can choose a new name but backs out when she learns about confession; she falls in and out of love with a cool sixth-grade boy with an Afro; and she becomes attached to her senile grandmother. As in other kids' stories with sympathetic college-teacher fathers, this dad seems stuffier and less bright than he's meant to be--and Anastasia's poem seems less genuine than intended. And with Anastasia's vindictive secret choice for the baby's name, Lowry seems to be playing to an adult audience: Anastasia's father has put the choice of a name in her hands, and she plans to spring ""One-Ball Reilly"" on him when the time comes. Of course, she backs out and chooses her grandfather's name--more in memory of her grandmother, who dies just before the baby's birth. This way of remembering Grandmother is just one example of Lowry's linking of different threads and episodes, which she does well throughout the book. It is neatly crafted and stout for its genre, but entirely without the emotional conviction of A Summer to Die. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.